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Natasha soldiers on as Selangor grab team gold

Natasha Roslan (third from left) and her Selangor teammates celebrate after winning the women's team gold. FAIHAN GHANI / The Star

KANGAR: Bowler Natasha Roslan has been feeling under the weather for the past few days, but that did not stop her from helping Selangor win the women’s team gold medal at the Perlis Bowl.

Struck with fever, Natasha soldiered on with team-mates Dina Nurnadia Zainal Abidin, Nurain Fatin Abdul Rasid, Qistina Zainal, S. Nivashini and Victoria Chin to win with a total of 5,849 pins over six games.

Sarawak grabbed the silver medal on 5,758 pins while Perak settled for the bronze medal on 5,723 pins.

“I was feeling horrible before the start of the game, but I really wanted to help the team win the gold medal,” said the national elite squad member.

Selangor could have opted to leave Natasha out as it was a team of five event. But instead, after the first block of three games, the team swapped Nivashini for Qistina to ensure everyone had a chance.

“It is important to win the gold medal in this event because we won it last time at the Pahang Sukma (two years ago),” said Natasha.

Meanwhile, the men’s competition ended up being an extended one – until 5am yesterday, after technical problems hit the lanes during the first block in the morning.

Starting their second block after the women’s completed their game at 1am, Sarawak bowlers Anthony Cheng, Christopher Tiong, Daniel Tan, Jonathan Ding Sagan and Muhd Syafiq did not let the circumstances bother them as they went on to claim the gold.

Sarawak won the title on 6,163 pins while Federal Territories claimed the silver medal on 5,873 pins. Selangor settled for the bronze on 5,860 pins.

“We’re just glad that it is over and more importantly, we got the gold medal,” said Jonathan.